Haven't these guys heard of suspend/hibernate, does anyone leave their computer on all the time anymore unless it's actually a server and has something to do? If they do they should really be asking themselves why.

We've had distributed computer networks for decades now. We've used them for scientific research for as long as we have had them. "Cloud" computing is just marketing nonsense. Not every distributed network is some global monster that's going to go sentient and send our killer robots. When so many stories mention the Terminator series, we all sound like pathetic geeky children with too much time on our hands and no sense of originality. Doubly so when it's in the title. Is there a new Terminator film or series just out or something?

We've had distributed computer networks for decades now. We've used them for scientific research for as long as we have had them. "Cloud" computing is just marketing nonsense. Not every distributed network is some global monster that's going to go sentient and send our killer robots. When so many stories mention the Terminator series, we all sound like pathetic geeky children with too much time on our hands and no sense of originality. Doubly so when it's in the title. Is there a new Terminator film or series just out or something?

...or based on the audience of/. it's simply an attempt at humour, and should be treated as such?

If I understand correctly, this project would use Nereus-V [ox.ac.uk] instead of BOINC. The former transmits data through a Web browser, where the latter does so using the BOINC client. I can't say more because I don't really see how those are much different at the end of the day, but with Nereus, you connect to projects over HTTP, which they argue is easier for users than launching a pre-configured native client.

Come on, get your buzzwords right. Cloud computing is when much of the processing is done on remote servers (the "cloud"). Distributed computing is when the processing is done by ordinary desktops worldwide. That's what this is. The article makes this mistake several times, but it's not entirely their fault. The system is called the "Nereus V Cloud" [ox.ac.uk] despite clearly being a distributed computing program.

I completely agree with you that this buzzword bingo has to stop.However you seem to also have messed up the terminology a bit.:)

Cloud computing refers to provisioning of resources across the network normally using virtual machines. You retain "full" control of the machine. Cloud computing could be used for distributed computing.

Grid computing is the connection of supercomputers across the world. This involves things like handling access rights, policies, accounting etc.

Since the SKA was going to be built close to my town of Geraldton(300kms is close in aussie terms) we got non-monopoly controlled backhaul fibre at our exchange quicker. Its also going to be part of the FTTH network eventually so two birds with 1 cable..
Not that last mile is going in the ground anytime soon but hey, progress.